Emergency Info Reqest or mass death will result

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Our group (if you can call a bunch of misfits a group) is currently set up on the south part of the Isle of Man (Castle Town).

Soon a magus (terram master or elemental master) will come there to demand all our vis stocks. He is at least a Arch level and will most likely be able to kill most the magi we have all at once.

The question is ther a way to affect him without having his Parma get in the way.

Such as (Perdo) (Auram) destroy the air around him for a large distance say at least 50 paces in all directions, then either matin it by concentration to afixiate him or have the are rush back in for a sonic boom and stun him.

Destroy Air (Pe Au 20)
Destroy the Air around the target for 500 paces in all directions leaving an airless void around the target.
Base is 4, +3 Sight, +1 size

Another would be to creat a block of dirt or stone above him and have gravity drop it on him.

Create Hanging Death (Cr Te 15)
Creat a large sheet of clay 2 paces thick x 22 wide x 22 long just above the target and let it drop on him by gravity. Trying to place him in the center of the slab to bypass ant resistance. You can do the same with Aquam.
Base is 1, +3 Sight, +1 Dia, +1 Size, +1 elabrate shape

If you have any ideas to help other that that one plaes give it as the death to the grout occours this sunday night.

Wish us luck for being stupid enough not to

1 Register Our Guild
2 Make a Charter
3 PUT UP THE AGEIS OF THE HEARTH
4 Getting life Insurance
5 Set up Guild somewhere else

Thrumbar
The Lone Survivor (I hope not)
:cry:

2

Create Hanging Death wouldn't work; A magically created substance is resisted by M.R. even if you let gravity work on it first. Only Rego spells working on non-magical matter can do what you ask for here.
However, you can still enclose him in a shell of some sort. "Box of Suffocation", anyone? Though if he's an elemental expert that probably won't fly, not for long...

There are of course lots of ways to potentially stop him. Hiring help, or setting devious mundane traps, or getting info on his weaknesses and/or an Arcane Connection for penetration bonus... I'm sure you'll think of something!

3

The hangind death should work whether the material is created or not the resistance will only stop it if the motion is by magic (rego). Think that was stated by David in one of his replies on the pink dot question.

A created sword if propeled by natural force (not rego) can peratrate parma..

[url]https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/enchanted-swords-and-parma-magica/259/1]

Because then magic resistance would not defend against magically created clubs; the force behind the swing is mundane.

Thrumbar :wink:

4

Cf. ArM5, page 86:
"If the magical bridge falls onto the maga, it is stopped, but does her no damage"
It is very plain, read this way.

About the pink dot thing, that is also rather plain in the book. An echanted sword can not penetrate Parma Magica, see "Edge of the Razor", ArM5, p. 154: "[...]since the resulting sword is resisted by Magic Resistance[...]"

As someone pointed out, the pink dot thing is a non-issue IMHO; Magi should be able to defeat any mere mundane in head-on combat.

5

Well guess I gotta get glasses.

Any item created by magic (unless created as a mudane item by a ritual) is considered magic for purposes of resistance.

My bo-bo

If things go as I think My character may be the only one left soon. Was thinking about another angle will post in another though..

Thrumbar :blush:

6

Well, if one of you survives, you can get to the "Cops" and have him charged with a High crime at the next Tribunal...(unless he declared Wizards War on your group???)

If this were me....

If he has declared Wizards War, I would lock up stuff and trap it with the worst poisons and traps I could come up with... ie the tower falls on him, the Floor opens up to the spike pit... Poison the wine, or food... (make sure you hide enough Vis around that he needs to stay long enough to eat whats on hand) etc
If possible, you could see your local Faerie Prince...perhaps some aid could be forthcoming...
Find a local Priest to help out...perhaps THAT would give him pause. Killing a priest would not be a good idea me thinks... :slight_smile:
Attempt to bribe him. Give him a place to stay and have him waited on..if possible. If you can put it off, even if you have to slave to him, it gives you time to come up with something.
I would have one of you stay, and the rest scatter. Take every resource with you. (assuming he hasn't delared WW).
-Just some ideas...
good luck

:bulb:

7

If the Archmage isnt a dumbass he simply gets invisible (everyone with this title should do this as a spont spell), cast his mastery instant-killingspell with no words and fast cast 4 times ore more on the gruop before they could cast any spell...
Btw the PeAu Spell is no good idee... he simply needs a PeVi of 10 to dispell it...

A archmage is a absolute killingmaschine with castingtotals (form art scores, talisman, special powers like mysteries) more than triple the troupe, so try to make a diplomatic soulution or get an other archmage to help you!

8

You're in real trouble, those two magical options you came up with wouldn't work against any real Archwizard. The only thing left to do is try to negotiate and hide the Vis in a sanctum.

Negotiating might get him to choose certamen instead of destruction, that way you'd lose some or all of your stuff but not your lives. But if the vis is hidden in a sanctum even an Archwizard has to be a touch careful. A vis source that is not marked as a covenant resource is technically open to anyone who cares to try for it. If it's in a clearly marked regulation sanctum, then if he goes for it he has to cross that theshold and risk being attacked. Now in this case, that risk is next to nothing. However, taking the vis inside it is depriving a wizard of his magical resources, which he has sworn an oath not to do. Attacking you is also against the oath. So you could run this gambit, and hope that he respects the law, make sure to point this out to him, it just might work.

Now then, here's the unfortunate reality. If he kills everyone in the covenant there will literally be no one left to bring charges against him, meaning he might not ever be brought to justice unless someone decides to investigate the sudden disappearance of a bunch of wizards who never registered their Covenant (not likely). But if he does go into the sanctum and strongarms the vis but leaves you alive, you could bring him up on charges at the next Tribunal meeting. Becuase whether you're a registered covenant or not, no wizard is supposed to violate a sanctum or steal vis that is acknowledged as being owned by another, activities like that were why the Order was formed in the first place. Unfortunately, this will be decided by a vote once you bring charges against him. As an archwizard, he likely has more than one vote of his own to cast, and can likely swing several votes in his favor. On the other hand he's likely upset several others in the Tribunal, which could give you some votes, and the fact that people like Guernicus, the Praeco and others likely hate thieves and bullies, they might vote against him to send a message to future Archwizards who think they run the Order.

Of course Archwizards are pretty arrogant, I've seen an Archwizard threaten a Praeco with Wizard's War while at Tribunal.

Negotiating has its risks, but is better than fighting him. Unless he admires you fr your courage, the first spell or enchantment against him will likely really provoke him. You could also use the vis in spells against him to pump up your casting total, who knows you might just get a high enough roll to penetrate his resitance, and at any rate you'll at least deprive him of the vis he's after.

9

You have 5 options:

1- Get your own Arch Magus
2- The church
3- Summon a magical/fey entity
4- Get a Guernicus to be aware of the situation
5- Let him take it & ask twice the amount in Tribunal/Grand Tribunal

Things to remember:

-Killing a magus is a high crime... let it be an Arch Magus or a fresh new mage.
-Your Aegis will give you an edge on your turf

  • Arcane connections will probably allow you to peice the MR of the Arch magus if you cast the spell in wizard communion. This AC can be obtained when you batle him

Good luck..

W

10

I don't think it would work out. PeAu would make air unbreathable, but not actually create an airless vacuum: that appears to be a 17th-century concept.

Horror Vacui

Wind is not caused by pressure gradients, there are no such thing as sonic booms, etc.

11

Hi, Im the evil storyguide in question here. So far the Unknown magi in question has yet to be discovered by the "coven". They dont know anything other than that he has used several high level terram spells, a darkness spell which occuded him from the vision of a shepard they had tending a flock of magical sheep and that he can find their unregistared vis sources. He can also apparently disapear from the scene of the "crime" (it isnt a crime to harvest unclaimed resources) either by teleporting or somehow leaving the area without leaving a trail. They assume that he is an arch magi but really know very little about him. The group seems to be hell bent on exacting retribution on the magi for the theft.
Thank you for your responses, they have advised one of my members that a hot headed response could be less than optimal. I look forward to the actual outcome, it will probably be quite humorous. They want a quick resolution to this matter but I am expecting this to continue for a good long time. Good villians make for good stories and this one is to good not to milk for some time. BTW the reason they feel that the magi in question will come after them is that he seems to be able to "Douse" for vis and they are the largest concentraition of vis left in the area. Furthermore none of the magi have even marked any areas as their sanctums. This should teach them to hopefully pay attention to the rules of the order to take advantage of their own belongings and not take it for granted that just because they are magi things will always just work out to their good.
As for the church, they have an ordained priest - holy mage that is not well thought of by the rest of the local churchmen, he is an exorscit and known troublemaker. The coven Flambeau attempted to kill the local faerie Queen and was banished from her presence. The magi have never been to tribunal since they were gauntleted and have failed to communicate with the other magi of the tribunal. This is their hole and they will have to dig themselves out with no aid from any quater thus concieved. :smiling_imp:

12

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

[size=59]Yeah, not good.[/size]

13

Time to make that Infernal Pact methinks. :smiling_imp:

14

I love William's answers. In particular number 5. Sometimes I think I'm in a camp of one. Jack and the Beanstock, Alladin, even Sinbad, these are famous characters that were out gunned, out stat'd, and if this were D@D out leveled, and they still over came their foes. In fact a lot of mythology deals with clever Joes beating the Gods or the Powers that be.

Perhaps I've played a Tytalus to long, but I do not think a gathering of magi should be afraid of one magus, whatever their stats are. As William listed, there are numerous solutions that turn the world against the bully/ArchMagus and leave the young magi on top.

On the Arch Magus, I agree that a clever Arch Magus would swoop in invisibly and destory the lot of you without you knowing he's there. But this fact brings me to a point I firmly believe. Any magus that shows up to a fight can be beat. If he's visible, it's that much easier.

First, the troupe can pick the location. Start hanging out at the local Church, sure your stats are down, but so are his. Now you have somekind of Star Trek Nebula senario where sheilds and tracking are no good.

Church to much, pick any location that favors the troupe and ruins the Arch Magi. Perhaps another covenant, or the King's forest, or fairy hill. Any place where the death of several magi will not benifit the Arch Magi.

Second, bring two dozen of your best friends. Yeah he's got a great Parma Magica, but how many arrows can he deflect? How many swords? It amazes me how many people don't try to punch a magi now and then.

In the last adventure I played my APPRENTICE Mercere BEAT an ARCHMAGUS by throwing a rock at his head! He failed his distraction roll, canceling the spell that would have killed me, fell over allowing the Byornear apprentice (in Bear Form) to pin him and surrender. Two apprentices BEAT and Arch Magus. Yes, it was touch and go. Yes I thought it was an absurd situation that as a GM I wouldn't have done, but it was the senario I found myself in and as all the other apprentices shot spells they knew were going to fail, I started throwing rocks.

Finally, I strongly encourage players to move away from reactive role playing. The Princess needs saving? Let's go! At High Noon, the Arch Magus is coming for us? Let's prepare!

Get PROACTIVE. So at High Noon the Magus is coming for us? How about, Let's go right now, seal the door to his sanctum and then flood the place with non magical odorless poison!

Are you breaking the code? Well he's going to kill you anyway, so worry about that later. Hint, don't order the companions to do it, simply discuss some 'wishful' thinking. What the companions do on their own time is their own business. Think about that.

I think a lot times role playing becomes a "how do we survive the storm senario", and while thats fun I think it can be more fun to get proactive and say "Lets control the weather- no more storms." That sort of purpose driven role playing moves the game forward rather than it being 'pulled' along by GM plots.

Hope this helps, and I hope you guys take that Arch Magus out before he wakes up this morning.

15

I did that once, our group's pesky, fairly stereotypical Tremere had started casting some ReMe spell on my magus and, back then, melee was resolved before spells.

I rolled a 36. He did not. Oops. :blush:

Lesson for the day: if you're going to cast hostile spells at the guy who rolled +9 for his Strength/Stamina pair, make sure you're out of reach of his fists.

16

Yes!
Maybe I've seen to many Cop-Buddy movies, but I still think the 'one punch-guy falls down' is soooooooooooooo satisfying.

I am talking about GAMING, not real life. :wink:

17

The slickest parma ignoreing trick Ive ever seen was mentioned on the Berk list about a year ago.

Enchant a sling with a muto terram effect to turn bolders into pebbles as long as they are touching the sling. Give it to a skilled slinger when the pebble leaves the sling at high speeds it changes back into a non magical boulder with non magical velocity.

You could argue that energy or momentum is conserved rather than velocity. that seems like cheeting to me.

18

I might not have read your post close enough,but your Characters are members of the Order and he is also one ?
And he will contest your VIS Sources ?

-try your best Certamen Magus vs. him if he is a Elementalist you best pick someting like Mentem....

19

Since this Archmagus appears to be going for the scorched earth option, I have a suggestion, possibly 2...

For the cowardly approach : Fake your own deaths. Gather what you can, bury the rest, and destroy what's left, and RUN. Leave some bodies behind, create some corpses, if you can. Or, even better, glass the site, and use some muto or perdo vim to change the wizard's sigil to someone else's.

Keep him on the defensive: Loud noises, flashes of light do wonders; they're easily sponted, and they don't have to penetrate to be effective. Sooner or later, he's going to miss a concentration roll, or botch a casting roll. Throw lots of stones or something at him. Keep him focused on the incoming distractions, and blindside him, with something mundane - like a fist, rock, club, axe, sword, or bow. From behind, unsuspecting is best.

And above all, keep your cool, and use your imagination. Then, realize what mistakes everyone (troupe and storyguide alike) has made getting to this point, and learn from them, so this never happens again ... if you're still playing in this game after this mess goes down. It's stuff like this that can readily tear gaming groups apart.

Steve

20

I agree with the previous person. If the Archmagus is going for the scorched earth policy then this is the time for a bit of MuCor.

The Lvl 15 Disguise of the New Visage ( Note working from Ars Magica 4th rules so lvl may be different in 5th ). Choose a grog for each of the magi in your covenant.

The magus will concentrate his castings on them. If they are on covenant ground then the magus will not know that they have no parma because the Aegis will be what is protecting them.

The Archmagus is probably supremely confident in his own Parma to protect him so that he won't expect any magic to succeed against him. You can use a CreMen spell to teach the grog/magi a few words and hand gestures to make it look like they are casting spells with a few other grogs as guards.

Death will likely result though any other shielding grogs may get in a few arrows or other shots. If they die quickly it is better them then you.

The key is to stay away from the fall out ( visit another covenant or domus if you can for the duration though it may take vis to make the changes in appearance more lasting then sun ).

When the damage is over, make a record and submit to Tribunal and get your pound of flesh back. You can also get a good reputation for staying within the law of the order ( especially with Bonisagus and Guernicus ) and for handling a powerful Archmagus which is going to go well for your future reputation ( especially with Tytalus, Tremere and Flambeau ).